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Northeast Corridor (Haiti)
Haiti's Northeast Corridor (also known as '''Couloir Cap-Haitien/Ouanaminthe')'' is a conurbation; a region comprising a number of cities, large towns, and other urban areas that, through population growth and physical expansion, have merged to form one continuous urban or industrially developed area. Located in northern Haiti on the Atlantic Ocean, it runs primarily west to east from the western suburbs of Cap-Haiten, to the Dominican Line at Ouanaminthe, in the Nord-Est department. It includes the major cities of Cap-Haïtien, Trou-du-Nord, Fort-Liberté, and Ouanaminthe, along with their metropolitan areas and suburbs, as well as many smaller urban centers. On a map, the Northeast Corridor appears almost as a straight line. As of the year 2015, the region contained 650,000 people, about 6% of Haiti's population, along a strip of highway, the Route Nationale 6. A French geographer the region's cities, while discrete and independent, are uniquely tied to each other through the intermeshing of their suburban zones, taking on some characteristics of a single, massive city. The North / Northeast holds a special place in the Haitian territory: By its story first, since it wears still the marks of all the stratifications of the colorful History of Haiti, Tainos from the Native American era to victories of independence, pirates of the 16th century to industrial developments of the 21st century. By its geography too, since it presents on a small space all types ecosystems present in Haiti and that it lives in contact with foreign countries: the Republic Dominican on the other side of the river Massacre and the rest of the world beyond seas or tunes (Miami, Turks & Caicos, Bahamas). But the North / Northeast must respond to same challenges as the rest of Haiti, such as demographic growth, economic transformation, environment, and governance. Demographics The consequences of current demographic dynamics The high population growth of Haiti has had these recent years the following consequences; Rural poverty where the mode of land use and level of technology do not allow to feed the population and where too many people in the agricultural sector is a brake on the modernization of agriculture; Bidonvilisation ("Bidonville" = shantytown) of the cities that are the first receptacles of population growth but where life is organized on the rural way of life - incompatible with urban densities as the nature can no longer play its regulatory role; and Emigration of a significant proportion of young Haitian people, despite the difficulties in crossing borders, and which empties Haiti of its forces, young graduates. The construction of integrated new cities can constitute an alternative to this situation. The situation in the Cap - Ouanaminthe corridor The Cap - Ouanaminthe corridor is inhabited by nearly 650,000 people as of 2012. Nearly two-thirds live in cities that grow at a rate faster than the population. Households are composed of 5 people on average. This average household size is expected to decrease in next years with raising the level of education but the demographic transition is still slow. The masculinity deficit translates the migratory phenomena at work (men leave more easily). The rate of young people very high (55%) implies very strong needs in school equipment and teachers. The 2030 prospective framework The IHSI estimates assume a annual growth of 1.6%. This implies a natural growth of 250,000 additional inhabitants by 2030. Being Moreover, it is likely that NNE projects will attract other people we frame the plan on the assumption of one million inhabitants. This is to structure the Cap - Ouanaminthe corridor to be able to welcome 350,000 additional inhabitants, create the conditions to build from 70,000 to 100,000 new homes, and as many schools as needed to accommodate about 200,000 students and additional students. Translated in annual rhythm, it's about being able to welcome each year nearly 20,000 additional inhabitants, that is, creating the conditions to build about 5,000 homes per year and enough schools for 10,000 children of more than a hundred classrooms all over the Cap - Ouanaminthe corridor. City structures and urbanization Anarchic growth of precarious neighborhoods Since the 1970s, the strong growth of cities was made without a real urban structure. Of numerous precarious neighborhoods have developed, particularly in Cap-Haïtien, the country's second largest city and regional capital, and in Ouanaminthe, where the franche has attracted many people in search a job and a better future. But also in medium-sized towns and secondary towns (Limonade, Trou-du-Nord, Terrier-Rouge, etc.). The newcomers have developed a habitat type which still has all the features of rural housing (single story buildings, absence of connection to existing networks, the very absence of roads and streets strictly speaking), but who reaches critical densities, and which allows, nevertheless, to get closer to urban amenities (jobs, education, health). This city without structure has been built mostly on precarious land: polder waste on the bay of Petite-Anse, flooding riverbanks, unstable slopes of the Haut-du-Cap (Upper Cape), etc. That's the paradox: the terrain that offers the most tenure security to the one who has nothing and wants to settle near the city, is the land that presents the most vulnerability. The challenge in the future is to turn the tide. It suits to define risk zones (flood zones , steep slopes, ravine banks) as unbuildable areas, and put in place the organization necessary to respect these measures. Moreover, the definition of building zones and the associated building rules and standards must meet the demand potential for housing. A diffuse and continuous nibbling of the available land The dynamics that can be observed in Cap-Haïtien and Fort-Liberté is identical to that which, in Port-au- Prince, led to the extremely rapid disappearance from the Cul-de-Sac Plain. A stop must be focused on this dynamic and urban development must be structured around new polarities. Indeed, the dynamics at work in Le Cap already nibble the plain. It decreases the productive capacity of the country even as the goal of food security is not reached. It unnecessarily spreads out the city while the city itself is suffering from a infrastructure deficit. It unnecessarily lengthens the networks while basic services are already struggling to be insured. Similarly, we are witnessing Fort-Liberté's nibbling progressively located between Carrefour Chevry and the city gate, without the concomitant deployment of the structure and networks needed for a real urbanization, where the plots are juxtaposed without creating a city, where the low density again produces an ineffective sprawl. An energy that needs to be catalysed for contributing to the building of coherent and functional cities. References Coulouir Cap-Haitien-Ouanaminthe http://ciat.gouv.ht/sites/default/files/docs/PlanNNE_vf.pdf Michael Vedrine Category:Geography of Haiti Category:Nord, Haiti Category:Nord-Est, Haiti